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| • | Newest Major Reviews: | . | • | This Week's Most Popular Reviews: | • | Best-Selling Albums: | ||
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1. The Dark Knight 2. Star Wars: The Clone Wars 3. Hancock 4. Hellboy II: The Golden Army 5. WALL·E | . | . |
1. Gladiator 2. Moulin Rouge 3. Titanic 4. Star Wars: A New Hope 5. Schindler's List |
6. Batman 7. Edward Scissorhands 8. POTC: Curse of the Black Pearl 9. Braveheart 10. Batman Begins | . | . |
1. Indiana Jones: Crystal Skull 2. The Incredible Hulk (2008) 3. Varèse Sarabande 30th 4. Last of the Mohicans 5. The Prince of Egypt |
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| Month of November, 2000 |
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A simple, yet classic score, by any standard of the imagination. Three
main themes
--all of which memorable-- are combined to make a powerful, yet tender epic score. The John Dunbar theme (the main one) can be heard in any elevator or department store atrium. After a decade of endless performances and re-uses of this theme from Dances With Wolves, many people (and even a few Barry fans) seek out the more obscure parts of the score for their enjoyment. The love theme extends from previous Barry cues, and appears mainly in the
middle of the score. The best of the themes --at least to these ears-- is
the journeying theme, which can be heard primarily in the third track.
Barry, in a curious composing manner, sometimes manages to write a small,
secondary theme for his assignments that is actually better than the main
theme for a film... and Dances With Wolves is no exception. This
is not to discredit the John Dunbar theme, though. Any of us who watch
American football on television immediately recognize it mixed in during
the United Way commercials. Read the full
review...
To describe the power of Anna and the King with words would simply
be inadequate. Once past the opening song, Fenton immediately establishes
the score as a magnificent tragedy. The instrumental renditions of the
song's original theme (which sounds mysteriously similar to parts of the
love theme from Fenton's 1986 84 Charing Cross Road) are nothing
short of spectacular. To accentuate the distance in time between the
story's setting and today's audiences, Fenton employs an epic theme of a
kind that reminds me of the old titles of golden age classics. Its sheer
volume is matched only by its expansiveness. Fenton's themes are so rich
that you can almost taste them. If you decide to purchase this score,
you'll have to humor me when I say: listen to this score at high volumes.
To fully appreciate the percussive elements of the film's location, you
have to really pay attention and allow the music to overwhelm you. And
trust me, it's an enjoyable experience. If you don't own a Fenton score,
now is a good time to test the waters; this is certainly one of the very
best by any composer in 1999. Read the
full review...
After a devastatingly disappointing score by Eric Serra for
Goldeneye a few years ago,
David Arnold follows with an excellent tribute to the entire series of
Bond scores. By the third track of Arnold's score for Tomorrow Never
Dies, you won't even remember that Goldeneye exists. The
Chapter III release, which was delayed until the few weeks into the year
2000 because of The World is Not Enough, features the bulk
twenty-six minutes of music from the end of the film that was missing from
the first album. As expected, these twenty-six minutes feature more music
like that in "White Knight" and "The Sinking of the Devonshire" (in other
words, more traditionally orchestral elements). The highlights are the
cues of ethnic influence, including "Helicopter Flight," which has a cool
Replacement Killers kind of mix, and "Kowloon Bay," which is a
stunningly gorgeous ethnic performance of the "Surrender" song. The
lengthy "Bike Chase" cue has some excellent brass and percussion work that
brings back memories of the best of John Barry's chase cues. As the finale
of the film, "All in a Day's Work" has the massively enjoyable major key
victory cue, complete with hints of the old pompous British finales that
made the older Bond films so corny and fun, as well as a very Barry-like,
final string performance of the love theme. Read the full
review...
Considered one of the most energized and authentic action scores of the
1990s, Poledouris' score for this Clancy story stands along-side Ice
Station Zebra and Crimson Tide as one of the most popular
submarine scores of all time. Its role in the film is extremely large, and
Poledouris' combined use of full orchestra, male chorus, and electronics
also makes for an enjoyable listen outside of the film. The authenticity
of the music for The Hunt for Red October stems from Poledouris'
interpolation of the Russian national anthem into several cues and, no
doubt, the massive contribution of the chorus singing in the Russian
language. For a translation of those lyrics, see the bottom of this page.
Even with the impressive work of the orchestra and chorus, it is the use
of the synthesizers that makes this score unique. The fourth track on the
album is a great example of the short, yet highly effective electronic
cues that are heard throughout the film. The music is most appropriate for
the underwater genre because Poledouris creates an echoing effect with
many of his electronics. An occasional pinging sound can be heard as well.
Unlike some of the overbearing action cues in Crimson Tide, the
same types of scenes in The Hunt for Red October are scored more
conservatively and with less powerful bass. Read the full
review...
Somehow, Jurassic Park remains one of the hidden treasures of the
1990s for Williams. 1993 in particular was an incredible year for him. He
won practically every award available for his Schindler's List,
which came out six months after Jurassic Park and completely
obscured the previous effort from the minds of many. Nevertheless,
Jurassic Park remains among the top ten scores of the decade --a
dazzling and magnificent orchestral score, unparalleled in thematic and
choral beauty. It ranks as one of the best horror/fantasy scores of all
time, complete with Williams' famous sweeping themes and moments of purely
frightening horror. Never once does the music of Jurassic Park lose
the mystical edge that ties it so closely to the film. The two main themes
of the film --one based on string and chorus and the other on solid
brass-- are both very memorable. They are backed up by three sub-themes
that run throughout the score. The vicious raptors have their own harsh
brass motif, as does the fumbling Dennis, whose treacherous and scheming
theme is very reminiscent of the conspiracy theme from JFK. The
instrumental choices also add to the power of the score. Williams
sparingly, but effectively, uses native drums and flutes, enhancing the
jungle atmosphere. Read the full
review...
1995 was a most remarkable year for James Horner. Fresh off of the
critical and popular success of Legends of the Fall, he produced
two superb scores for children's films, Balto and Casper. In
an odd turn, he followed that with the controversial and troubled project
of the sex-thriller Jade. Then, of course, came his two Academy
Award nominated gems, Braveheart and Apollo 13. Debates can
rage all night about which of these two is better, but the legacy of
Braveheart has persisted and eventually overshadowed Apollo
13 to a great extent. And although Braveheart is a very fine
score, Apollo 13 has to take the cake as the best of Horner's
effort in 1995. There is really no way to appreciate the music fully
without also appreciating the high quality of the film itself. Horner's
heroic theme epitomizes the patriotic American spirit, and its sincerity
and raw, serious power drives the score with the perfect feel of a
historical documentary. The amazing aspect of the main heroic theme is
that it never dances and twirls; nor does it get cute, as some might
believe Independence Day to be. As Horner states, "If you start off
with a big score, it sets an audience up for just another sci-fi movie...
except Apollo 13 is a documentary; you know where it's going to
end. What I'm trying to get out of the story is the idealism." And the
distinction between fantasy and stark reality is very strong in Apollo
13. There are indeed moments of whimsical wonder for the dreams of
great space exploration, but the score never deviates from the dark and
occasionally frightening realities that the dangers of space travel
present. Read the
full review...
This score would turn out to be the crown jewel of Alan Menken's Disney
film achievements. The middle of his trilogy of Academy Award winners, it
was flanked by the highly successful The Little Mermaid and
Aladdin. Beauty and the Beast, though, in both film and
score, reached heights far beyond the others Menken was involved with. Its
high sense of class and style make it one of the easiest of the Disney
scores to listen to, and its knack for capturing the enchantment of the
film was better than any other I've heard. The highlights of the score
include the crisp and emotionally powerful performances by the orchestra
and the resounding voice of Paige O'Hara, who performs "Belle." Even in
its darkest moments, this score (and its songs) retain the magic that was
slowly lost in Menken's later scores, making it an ever-positive listening
experience. The songs --three of which nominated for Academy Awards-- are
all upbeat, and none of them uses overly-stupid comedic performances to
appeal to children (unlike those that would come later). This seriousness,
without compromising the children's aspect of the film, make the album
very enjoyable for adults as well. Read the full
review...
Among the very best scores of the 1990s, Legends of the Fall often
becomes lost in the shuffle because of its tendency to exhibit its
brilliance without relying on anything flashy. The awe and magnificence of
the score is apparent throughout the entire album, but its status as a
classic often becomes obscured by those works for which Horner has also
received critical success. Scores such as Braveheart, Glory,
and Titanic have stolen the spotlight from Legends of the
Fall, even though I'd easily argue that it is a superior score to all
of his others in the 1990s. The album continues its strangely "cult"
status amongst teenagers, and more specifically, teenage women, who have
helped keep this score high in the sales ranks nation-wide even five years
after its initial release. At the time Horner completed Legends of the
Fall, he had been engaged in quantity-driven, quality-suspect projects
for a few years of his career. Instead of opting for one or two major
projects a year, he had been taking assignments for much smaller films in
bulk. Many of these scores, while enjoyable, lacked the impressive
orchestral potential fans had witnessed in Glory and Willow,
and had definitely departed from his earlier style of Brainstorm
and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Read the full
review...
This could very well be the best score ever to feature an unwanted theme
and an unwanted album. Not only did Jerry Goldsmith disapprove of the MCA
Records album for The Russia House, but the title theme of the film
itself was a reject from a previous Jerry Goldsmith score. The saga of the
score for The Russia House begins two years before the film's
release, when Goldsmith conjured up a bold and yet longing love theme for
the film Alien Nation. In a seemingly nonsensical move by that
film's producers, Goldsmith's score was rejected and expunged. Knowing
that he had a perfectly viable, not to mention powerful, theme on his
hands, he waited a few years before working it into the potentially
explosive adaptation of John LeCarre's novel The Russia House.
However, because audiences were unprepared for either the gloom of the
film or the distorted and confusing ending of the adaptation, the film
fell short of all expectations... save Goldsmith's score. Perhaps or
perhaps not related was Goldsmith's wish for a short album release of his
score; MCA did not agree, and thus was born the lengthy album with the
mass of the music from the film intact. Undeterred by this development,
however, Goldsmith's fondness for his theme for The Russia House
would cause a reprise of its jazzy performances in the bittersweet finale
of the 1993 thriller, The Vanishing. Read the full
review...
After a magnificent score for
Jurassic Park in the same year, Williams produced (arguably) the most
moving and powerful score of his career. There is no march, fanfare, or
"cute, little furry creature" music to be found here. The violin solos by
Perlman are perfect in depicting the alienation of the Nazi camps, and
although the music carries the film to its highest potential, I find it
almost unbearable to listen very often on its own. Yes, it's an excellent
score, however it is depressing and creepy and mysterious... which doesn't
make for fine listening on a bright sunny day. It is the type of score
that you can honor and appreciate, but not pleasurably listen to unless
you're in a really good mood. The score has the capability of giving you
chills, and I love it for just that. And make sure you watch this movie
--it's the only way you can really appreciate it. On a larger scale,
though, Schindler's List is an automatic choice for the "top five
scores of the 1990s." The emotions that this score evoke are simply
unparalleled when compared to other dramatic efforts of this decade (some
would go so far as to say that it is one of the most powerful scores of
all time...). Read the full
review...